Geollescete HALL

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
PALAEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY
MINERALOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
SOCIETY OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGISTS

December 28-30, 1921

fC 1K.

tMeur Library
Sobyichadt

AMHERST MEETING

OF THE
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA.
PALAEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

MINERALOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA,

AND
SOCIETY OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGISTS

December 28-30, 1921

Patt
Min’soc ~ Fat Soc

3,
Hitchcock

AMHERST
1 College Hall : - 19 Phi Delta Theta House
4 Converse Library 20. (Chi) Psi Heuge

5 Pratt Dormitory 21
11 Geology and Biology Building 22
12 Appleton Cabinet 24
16 Williston Hall 25

Psi Upsilon House
Beta Theta Pi House
Delta Upsilon House
Chi Phi House

29 Carters’s for meals
30 College Inn for meals

d ‘Perry .Hotel
MEETING PLACES

Headquarters and loafing rooms, Williston Hall (16)

Geological Society of America, Williston Hall (16)
Palaeontological Society, Geology-Biology Building (11)
Mineralogical Society of America, Geology-Biology Building (11)
Society of Economic Geologists, Appleton Cabinet (12)

Annual Smoker and Dinner College Hall (1)

Exhibition Room, Williston Hall (16)

GENERAL INFORMATION

Headquarters are on the first floor of Williston Hall. Everyone
should go there at once and register, and get programs and in-
formation.

Guests and Visitors are heartily welcome to all the gatherings of

the various societies, and are asked to register also.
Rooms in the College Dormitories and Fraternity Houses are

$1.50 per night. These are studies, usually with two bed rooms,
each with a single bed, and adjoining the study. There are a few,
with only a study and one bed room. Ladies will have one of the
fraternity houses reserved for them. Fellows bringing their wives
will have also a fraternity house reserved for them. Each fraternity
house and dormitory has one or two parlors for general gathering.
In case a hotel is preferred the rates at the Perry are, rooms $2.00 and
up, meals $2.75.

Meals will be provided at two (or if necessary three) of the best
student boarding houses at the rate of $.50 for breakfast, $.75 for
luncheon and $1.00 for dinner. Please arrange at Headquarters as
to which boarding house you will go to, so that congestion may not
occur at individual points.

If possible arrange beforehand for your rooms and meals, writing
to F. B. Loomis, Amherst, Mass., the secretary of the Local commit-
tee. Otherwise make arrangements on arrival at Headquarters.

Annual Smoker and Dinner. The Local Committee must know
by noon of Wednesday the number of those planning to attend.
The tickets are $1.00 at Headquarters. Those planning to attend
the annual dinner should make it known by 10 A. M. of Thursday.
Tickets $3.00 at headquarters.

Mail during the sessions will be distributed at Headquarters, if
sent care of F. B. Loomis, Amherst, Mass. Also papers or packages
sent in advance of the meeting may be sent in care of F. B. Loomis.

An Exhibition Room is provided for such exhibits as members
may bring or send in. In this room will also be found maps of the
region, historical data, and other objects of general interest.

Train schedules of trains coming to Amherst are found in the
back of this booklet. Outgoing schedules will be found at Head-
quarters. Thursday afternoon, Dec. 29, a representative of the
railroads will be at headquarters to arrange for reservations on

4

sleepers. As travel is heavy at this time, members wishing space
reserved should write to F. B. Loomis, Amherst, Mass., a week or so
beforehand what reservations they would like, giving date and
train; and the space will be held for them. Tickets and payments
will be arranged for at headquarters, Thursday, Dec. 29.

#

OUTLINE PROGRAM
Wednesday, Dec. 28

9.30-12.30 First general session of Geological Society of America.
Williston Hall.

2.00-5.00 Session of Geological Society in two sections, both in
Williston Hall.

First session of Palaeontological Society,
Geological Lecture Room.

8.00 P.M. Address of retiring President J. F. Kemp,
College Hall.

9.00 P. M. Smoker of all the societies in College Hall.

Thursday, Dec. 29

9.30-12.30 A. M. Session of the Geological Society,
Williston Hall.

Session of the Palaeontological Society,
Geological Lecture Room.

First session of the Mineralogical Society,
Biological Lecture Room.

First session of the Society of Economic Geol-
ogists,
Appleton Cabinet.

2.00-5.00 P. M. Session of the Geological Society,
Williston Hall.

Session of the Palaeontological Society,
Geological Lecture Room.

Session of the Mineralogical Society,
Biological Lecture Room.

Session of the Economic Geologists,
Appleton Cabinet.

7.00 P. M. Annual Dinner of the Geological Society and its friends.
The Palaeontological Society, the Mineralogical Society
of America, the Society of Economic Geologists will
participate.

6

Friday, Dec. 30
9.30-12.30 A. M. Session of the Geological Society,
Williston Hall.
Session of the Palaeontological Society,
Geological Lecture Room.
Session of the Mineralogical Society,
Biological Lecture Room.
| Session of the Society of Economic Geologists,
" Appleton Cabinet.
2.00-5.00 P. M. Session of the Geological Society,
Williston Hall.
Session of the Palaeontological Society,
Geological Lecture Room.
Session of the Mineralogical Society,
Biological Lecture Room.
Session of the Society of Economic Geologists,
Appleton Cabinet.

GEOLOGY OF AMHERST

The geology about Amherst is, in general, that of the Connecticut
Valley, but in the immediate vicinity of the town there is considerable
variation from the typical development of the valley as a whole.
Many of the most typical structures and evidences of dynamic
changes can be seen:from College Hill, or better still from the balcony
just outside the geology lecture room.

The Connecticut Valley is a lowland, extending from just north
of Greenfield, Mass., 95 miles to New Haven, Conn., and varying
in width from some five miles at either end to 15—18 in the middle.
It is an uncompleted Tertiary peneplain on the soft Triassic sand-
stone, between an eastern and a western upland of crystalline rocks
of sufficient hardness to have preserved considerable of the old
Cretaceous peneplain, which extended over most of New England.

The western upland, referred to in Massachusetts and Connecticut
as the Berkshire Hills, lies on folded igneous and metamorphic
rocks of Lower Cambrian to Silurian age. These rocks show ey-
idences of two disturbances, first the folding which made mountains
at the end of the Lower Cambrian, known as the Green Mountain
uplift. This mountain system, extending along the western border
of the present Berkshire region was eroded to its roots, and then
covered by marine sediments of Ordovician and Silurian ages;

fi

after which a second disturbance in the Devonian folded them again
and lifted the Berkshire region far above sea level. This system of
mountain ranges remained until eroded to the level of the Cretaceous
peneplain, some elevations however remaining on that plain as
monadnocks, like Greylock; and the Green Mountains.

The eastern upland is the southern extension of the White Moun-
tain highlands south through Massachusetts and Connecticut, and
consists of igneous and metamorphic rocks of Cambrian to Penn-
sylvanian age, folded into a mountain system during the Penn-
sylvanian. Through the succeeding time down to the Cretaceous
these were reduced toward the level of the Cretaceous peneplain.
Again some points were left above the plain, such as peaks in the
White Mountains, Mt. Katahdin in Maine, Mt. Monadnock in
New Hampshire, and Mt. Wachusett in Mass.

The Connecticut Valley lowland differs greatly in its history.
Some time in the Triassic epoch a series of great faults developed in
Eastern North America. Between some of these great faults great
blocks dropped down, in Nova Scotia, in Connecticut and Massachu-
setts, and in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The Connecticut
Valley approximates one of the great rift valleys thus formed. Just
how deep the valley was at any one time can not be said, for probably
the down dropping block took its final position as the result of a
series of movements; but to fill the hole thus formed, it took some
10,000 feet of deposits. Of course as soon as such a valley was
formed, gravel, sand and clay was washed in from the sides, and the
filling began. The coarsest material is near the sides, the finer near
the middle. Most of the fill is conglomerate and sandstones, but
there are bands of shale, some of it blackened by organic matter.

In general the first part of the fill is conglomerates and sandstone,
varying from some 300 to over 1000 feet in thickness. When this
had been laid down volcanic eruptions toward the south end of the
valley produced a sheet of lava, some 250 feet thick in the south and
thinning out until it is lacking above the Massachusetts line. In
Connecticut this is termed the “‘anterior sheet.’’ Above this there is
a further fill of 2000 to 3000 feet of conglomerates and sandstones,
on top of which were poured out the ‘“‘main sheet’’ of lava (termed
in Massachusetts the Holyoke trap), a sheet generally 400— 500 feet
thick, but thinner near the northern end of the valley. Another
period of in washing accumulated 1000 to 2000 feet more of sand-
stones, etc., followed by the third volcanic period when another
thinner layer was poured into the valley. This is 250 or so feet

Fig. 1. Outlines of the larger postglacial lakes in Western Massachusgtts.

9

thick, and known in Connecticut as ‘‘the posterior sheet,’’ or in Mass--
achusetts as the Hampden trap, and extends north as far as the
Holyoke Range. This period was followed by a continuation of the
volcanic activity, when explosive eruptions took place and the next
200 feet or more of sands are mixed with greater or less quantities of
volcanicash. Above this there are still some thousand feet of sands
mostly of finer character than the earlier deposits, until the valley
was filled.

After the accumulation of these sandstones and lavas, probably
in the Jurassic, a second period of faulting took place, breaking the
Triassic deposits and adjacent crystalline rocks into a complex of
smaller blocks, and tilting these at various angles, but mostly so
that the blocks dip to the east. Some blocks just south of Amherst.
were caused to dip south, and the block or blocks of the Amherst
region were lift higher than the others. This is the block mountain
period of the region.

During the remainder of the Jurassic and through Comanchian
and Cretaceous times, all the New England country, both the
eastern and western highland and the Connecticut Valley block
mountains, was being eroded to a great plain near sea level, the
Cretaceous Peneplain, regardless of the hardness of the various.
rocks; excepting only the monadnocks mentioned above.

During the latter part of the Cretaceous, the New England
peneplain experienced a broad uplift (not entirely uniform), amount-.
ing in the Amherst region to about 1200 feet. This rejuvenated.
the streams and they began again to carve out valleys, and carry
the loosened material away to the sea. The Triassic sandstones.
were relative soft and were rapidly removed down to about sea level,
at which level a new plain began to be formed, about as extensive as
were the Triassic deposits. The trap layers, which had been tilted
about in the Jurassic block-forming movement, when uncovered,
were more resistant and so stood out as mountain ranges in the
valley, the exposed edge making generally north and south ridges.
with the steep slope to the west and the gentle slope to the east.
Thus the Tom Range and Talcott Mts. and the Pocumtuck Ridge
came into existence. The blocks tilted toward the south, when,
eroded, uncovered the east and west edge of the trap layers and
therefore made an east-trending ridge, the Holyoke mountains.
For ten miles north of this range the blocks had been lifted so high,
that the Triassic material was mostly carried away and where
Amherst stands (including Mt. Warner and a strip to the north of

10

the town), the original floor of the valley was uncovered, and appears
as a slight elevation above the level of the rest of the lowland. In
general then the rock floor of the Connecticut Valley represents
this Tertiary plain which was developed in the softer sandstones.
Beginning with Mt. Toby and Sugarloaf the normal character of
eastward dipping blocks begins again and continues to the north end
of the valley. The small hill on which Amherst stands and Mt.
Warner are composed of so called Amherst Schist which is of Penn-
sylvanian age. Thus the general contour of the Valley was completed
about the end of the Miocene. (See Fig. 2, page 15.)

Just after this a new uplift took place and the streams began anew
to cut deep valleys and seek a new base level. This was only attained
in the soft Triassic material, for in the Crystalline rocks the Micoene
base level had hardly been attained when the second uplift took
place. The Connecticut River cut a deep gorge, like that of the
Hudson River, but before any general widening took place, the ice
sheet of the Pleistocene spread over the whole country and buried
it. This undoubtedly scraped off some material and reduced the
irregularities, but did not materially alter the general contour.
During this period of being covered with ice there was a general
depression of the whole country until the Tertiary plain was below
present sea level.

When the ice melted and the sheet retreated, leaving behind a
boulder strewn surface and irregular moraines, it exposed a surface
so low that drainage was impeded.

This low lying valley immediately filled with water making a
great lake. This great body of water was divided by the Holyoke
Range and its continuation the Tom Range and the Talcott Range
into two main bodies. What was north and west of these ranges is
called the Hadley Lake, while the water to the south and east of
the ranges is the Springfield Lake. The two however were connected
at several points by continuous water ways, one where the Connect-
icut River originally crossed the Holyoke Range, and another where
the Westfield River did the same. The old Lake shore approx-
imates the 300 foot level of today.and in many places can be easily
seen as terraces of gravel or sand. The lake bottom was gradually
covered with layers of clays varying from 10 to 180 feet thick, which
today are exposed in the numerous clay pits worked by the brick
making industries. (Fig. 1.)

Amherst stands on what was an island in the lake, and the shore-
line is easily traced, appearing as the terrace just south of the geology

ley

building and extending around back of the church and Walker
Hall. Counting the layers of clay and figuring that each represents an
annual deposit, the lake lasted some 4000 years.

Then came the postglacial uplift of New England, amounting to
around 100 feet at the south end of the valley and over 600 in middle
New Hampshire. In this region it was around 300 feet. The lake,
thus tipped up at its northern end quickly drained away; and the
Connecticut River sought out a channel over the low parts of its
bottom, into which it has cut thirty to fifty feet deep at the present
time. In flood times it has spread over the clay of the lake bottom
a varying layer of sand and loam, which makes the tobacco and
onion soil of this section.

Probably associated with this uplift are numerous recent faults
in the Toby group, and in the Holyoke Range, which vary in height
from 5 to 100 feet in displacement. Near Sunderland one of these
has cut the old shore line and for a distance of four.miles dropped it
from 80 to 50 feet below where it should normally appear in that
region. These were the last geologic events in the valley and since
then it has stood so little altered that this last disturbance must
have been very recent.

WHAT TO SEE COMING TO AMHERST

In coming to Amherst various bits of the foregoing history can be
readily seen from the car window.

Coming from Albany, just before reaching Pittsfield, extensive
gravel banks indicate where the west shore of the postglacial Lake
Housatonic lay while the flats about Pittsfield were the lake bottom,
the east shore being seen also in gravel beds near Dalton. After a
short climb over the divide, the railroad begins its descent from the
western upland by winding down the valley of the Westfield River,
and enters the Connecticut Valley and the Postglacial Lake Hadley
basin about four miles west of Westfield. The gravel embankment
to the north of the railroad is part of the delta which the Westfield
River made in Lake Hadley. Three miles east of Westfield the
road and river pass through a notch in the Mt. Tom Range which
is caused by a fault and was a waterway connecting Lakes Hadley
and Springfield. The rest of the way to ela anclch is over the bot-
tom of former Lake Springfield.

12

From Springfield the Boston and Maine R. R. goes north to
Holyoke along the Connecticut River. The clay pits to the east
show the deposits in the middle of Springfield Lake, and are topped
with sands which were bars, etc. washed out into the lake in its later
phases. The flats near the river are terraces which the Connecticut
River has cut in postglacial times. At Holyoke the R. R. crosses
to the west side of the river and runs along the foot of the Tom
Range. (Mt. Tom is the one with a house on it three miles north
of Holyoke). Also about three miles north of the city one sees
ledges in the river. On these and also just west of the tracks ripple
marks and reptile tracks are well exposed. Two miles north of the
Smith’s Ferry station the track crosses the Hampden trap, and
half a mile further the Holyoke trap, arriving at once at Mt. Tom
station. Here the mountain on the west is Nonotuck, while across
the river to the east is Mt. Holyoke. Just beyond this station is a
fine dxbow of the Connecticut River, from which the road goes over
a broad river terrace into Northampton. ¢

From Northampton the railroad or trolley goes over the Hadley
Lake bottom, skirting the edge of a broad low river terrace on the
south; until the river is crossed, after which the way is over the
Hadley Lake bottom. About a mile from Amherst the trolley
begins to climb out of the lake bottom and at Prospect St. crosses
the shore line and is on the Amherst Island. All the way from
Northampton the Holyoke Range is seen some three miles to the
south, while to the north can be seen Mt. Sugarloaf and the Toby
group some eight miles away.

Coming from Boston on the Boston and Maine the eastern highland
begins at Oakdale. A little west of Rutland the railroad begins to
descent following the Ware River. At Ware and from there to
Belchertown one is on the sands and gravels of the narrow posglacial
lakes associated with the branches of the Chicopee River, especially
the Ware and Swift Rivers, along which were the lakes known as
Shutsbury and Pelham Lakes. Just north of Belchertown lie the
Belchertown Ponds, which are kettle holes formed by the melting
of the last remnants of the ice, covered by the earliest shore beds of
postglacial Lake Hadley. From here one continues to Amherst over
the bottom of this extinct lake, skirting along the north side of the
Holyoke Range. .

On the Boston and Albany coming from Boston the eastern
upland begins at Worcester, and the railroad is crossing it until it
gets about three miles west of Palmer, when it enters the Connect-

13

icut Valley proper and the Springfield Lake basin. (See Springfield
to Northampton).

The New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad crosses the
low lying southern end of the Berkshires and enters the Connecticut
Valley three miles west of New Haven. East Rock and West Rock
are small trap ridges. The railroad then continues over the Tertiary
peneplain to Meriden, the trap ridges being mostly to the east.
Then it crosses through the ridges and comes out some ten miles
south of Hartford into the Springfield Lake bottom, and on over
this Lake bottom into Springfield, the trap ridges being now on the
west side. (See Springfield to Northampton).

COLLECTIONS TO BE SEEN AT AMHERST COLLEGE

The Hitchcock Collection of fossil footprints is in the basement
at the. east end. of the Geology-Biology building. It consists of
slabs of Triassic sandstone from the Connecticut Valley, on which
the tracks of reptiles, insects and worms of the time can still be
traced. The tracks were probably made in mud puddles or near
them, then baked by the hot sun, and thus hardened so that they
were not destroyed when new layers of mud were spread over them.
As the process was repeated thousands of feet of sandy muds were
piled over the tracks and, when cemented, preserved them. Even
the impress of ripple marks and rain drops are preserved. The
collection contains over 20,000 tracks representing some forty
different kinds of animals.

The collection of fossil vertebrates is on the first floor at the east
end of the Geology-Biology building. The striking forms in this
are the evolution of the horse represented by five stages, Eohippus,
Mesohippus, Merychippus, Equus Scotti, and the modern horse.
There are skeletons of early camels, rhinoceros, dogs, oreodonts,
saber-toothed cat, etc., and considerable material from the Miocene
and Oligocene periods. Here also is the collection of Oligocene
vertebrates from Patagonia of which the Pyrotherium skull is most
interesting.

The historical geological collection is on the second floor of the
same building and is arranged in alcoves each alcove to show the
typical life of that period. The features of especial note are the
history of the Connecticut Valley at the east end of the room, the
mastodon skeleton from South Carolina, the evolutionary material

14

of the elephants, the fishes of the Connecticut Valley Triassic forma-
tion, the Permain reptiles, the Patagonian invertebrates, and the
jaws of the giant Miocene shark. At the west end of the Geology-
Biology building is the Shepard Collection of minerals. This was
gathered and brought to a high degree of perfection by Prof. C. U.
Shepard many years ago. Then it went through a fire, the choicest
Specimens escaping as they had been removed from the room prepar-
atory to rearrangement. Prof. Emerson then rebuilt the collection
to its present still better development. It 1s rich in choice crystals,
and rare gems. The tourmalines and rutiles are especially note-
worthy.

On the east side of the same room is one of the world’s large
collections of meteorites, gathered by Prof. Shepard and Prof.
Emerson. It is notable for a considerable number of complete
meteorites and for the large number of falls represented.

On the first floor of this same building there is a biological collection,
in which the Audubon birds and books, and the Birds of Amherst are
of especial interest.

Those interested in Indian relics will find a large collection on
the second floor of Appleton Cabinet, some 30,000 pieces, rep-
resenting the work of Indians from all parts of America. But it is
especially rich in material representing the local Algonquins, and
the Iroquois of the Lake Champlain and Lake George regions.

SKETCH MAP OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

Fig. 2. Sketch map of the northern half of the Connecticut Valley,
A, western highland; B, eastern highlands; A.s., Amherst schist; G, Granby
tuff; Hm, Hampden trap; H.t., Holyoke trap; L.B., lake bottom deposits;
P.g., Pelham gneiss; T.1., lowest Triassic sandstone; T.2, Triassic sandstone
between the Holyoke and Hampden traps; T.3., Upper Triassic sandstones ;
Wg., Williamsburg granodiorite.

WA

‘\
n
(ye

SSS

Ui

WY :

'

ee
Le a a

i} ‘| i)

x

A:

. a YoF % (y
4) =i =
°

5 =e |

WE:

ae
lily VMfz YM

Hit.Ta Hm, To

I \)
|

_

Da BN TAN a
P|! Nd LUNN dy
“g Het 7

NM hy S77

‘ w\
) y Dy) \
) WSS Yj PS
y ASG

2.

Fig.

TRAIN SCHEDULES
The best way to reach Amherst in general is to come to Northampton, by
‘way of Springfield, Mass. and take the trolley over, getting off at College Hall,
which is the nearest point to Headquarters. From Boston one may come direct
«over the Boston and Maine R. R.

From Boston, via the Boston and Maine R. R.

Leave Boston Arrive Amherst
8.05 A. M. 11.57 A. M.
5,44 P. M. 9.28 P. M.

From Springfield to Northampton, via the Boston and Maine R. R.
_Leave Springfield, Mass.

6.50 7.05 8.00 9.15 10.30 A. M.
12.20 3.38 5.10 5.45 6.35 8.00 11.00, P. 3a

arriving forty minutes later.

*1f this train is taken, get off at Holyoke and take trolley to Amherst.

Leave Boston for Springfield via the Boston and Albany R. R.

‘Leave Boston Arrive Springfield Leave Boston Arrive Springfield
7.05 A. M. 10.10 A. M. 12.30 P. M. 2.49 P. M.
8.30 11.10 1.00 3.40
9.15 11.45 2.00 ~ 4.30

10.00 12.35) Poe. 2.10 4.40
‘12.00 noon 2.38 2.30 5.50
4.00 6.25
5.50 8.25
6.10 8.45
1.39 10.20

From Albany for Springfield via the Boston and nage RR
‘Leave Albany Arrive Springfield Leave Albany Arrive Springfield

6.45 A. M. 9.32 A. M. 1.30 Po MM: 5.10 PM:
6.55 11.05 2.42 5.50
9.15 ; 12.738 22M 5.00 8.20

ACE sea 3.37 (ATS. ES 8.55

From New York to Springfield via New York, New Haven and Hartford R. R.
‘Leave New York Arrive Springfield Leave New York Arrive Springfield

7.43 A.M. 11.54 A, M. 3.45 P.M. 7.23 PUM:
9.15 12.52 Ba M: 4.00 ; 7.28
11.00 Sul 5.02 8.50
12.00 noon 3.28 ; 6.00 10.10
1.0307. Mi: 5.40 8.00 12.26 A. M.
2.20 6.26 10.15 3.38 A. M. sleeper
; until 7.00

TROLLEY SCHEDULE
Cars leave Northampton for Amherst every hour on the hour, and at 4.30

cand 5.30.
Cars leave Amherst for Northampton every hour on the half hour, and at

4.00, 5.00 and 6.00.

icin

ss ed
roy , :
ae) i
,

7 AL Mt “a

J 1h vie, Kb

eat

ee -
st 3
=3 e
a _
-S are
page $e
So ape

= 3 o¢

fee fhe

.

Mt. Holyoke Range fron Amherst Col

t Holyoke —
——River gap,afault

——mM
—— mM

Nono tuck